Siddiqui Brown Rum, 40 percent ABV, 70 cl

Product Information

Welsh whisky company Penderyn Distillery has appointed Simon Roffe as new Director of Business Development. Depaz is based in Martinique and draws its sugarcane from the slopes of Mount Pelée, the active volcano at the northern end of the island. It won a Master award for three different expressions, Depaz XO, 45% ABV, Depaz VSOP, 45% AVB and Depaz Vieux Plantation, 45% ABV.

Vok is one of Australia’s largest beverage companies. The Inner Circle Cask Strength rum weighs in at an incredible 75.9% ABV. It offers up powerful aromas of caramel and molasses, along with dried fruit notes of raisins, apples and prunes, stone fruit and orange zest. There are spice notes of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, along with some dark chocolate and walnut. This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services. Siddiqui Brown Rum. Doesn’t sound to inviting does it? There have been a lot of “objections” recently about labelling rum by its colour. Some of it has been a bit over the top, I have to say. That said “Brown” rum is a new descriptor for me in terms of actually going out there and putting it on the label. Being illegal, as Saudi has prohibited alcohol since the 1950s, it was allegedly secretly distilled and enjoyed for decades, and codenamed ‘siddiqui’ – Arabic for ‘my friend’ – to avoid detection. Siddiqui is inspired by the moonshine produced by Texan and Californian oil workers during their time in Saudi Arabia.For millions of expatriate contractors including oilmen, doctors, teachers, engineers and construction workers, the word “Siddiqui” will conjure up images of that cool relaxing drink that welcomed you at the end of your grueling, hot day in the desert . Siddiqui (sid-E-key), the code word for moonshine, means “my friend”. To those who know about Siddiqui, have drank Siddiqui or have discretely made Siddiqui at home, many will recall it as a whiskey, others a vodka, but Siddiqui is a rum like no other. Builders and Engineers often work in conditions, sometime illicitly, where there is limited access to the tools and tech others have on tap, so they innovate, get creative, collaborate and become tenacious with materials they have around them. Siddiqui is from this world and is the friend, and often catalyst, to these memorable moments. To be clear, this tastes absolutely nothing like Whisk(e)y. I dislike Whiskey, but love this stuff. I grew up partially in the Middle East and Siddiqui was the only spirit I could get (most of the time). We generally had the white stuff, whereas I've only tried Penderyn's brown.

Roffe said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the Penderyn Distillery brand. Penderyn is already making huge leaps and bounds on the global spirits markets. They are a brand-driven by enormous ambition. It’s exciting to be working with such an innovative team delivering success after success.” Siddiqui – the name is Arabic for ‘my friend’ – is unique. It is a spirit that was originally created to reflect a period of industrial and cultural history, and exists as a response to the widespread ban of alcohol imports and sales in the Middle East which occurred in 1952. As a result of all the wood and smoke it’s not a particularly complex nose. It’s not really very rummy either. It’s not an awful nose but it isn’t really drawing me in. I sometimes wonder how influential Siddiqui has been over the last half century,’ says brand owner Nigel Brown, who is about to oversee the global launch of the spirit drinks.Most recently, he played a key role in launching Halewood’s travel retail business and was instrumental in the rise of Whitley Neill Gin. Siddiqui Brown Rum is a spirit that, ‘Sips like a whisky and parties like a rum’, and tastes like no other spirit. It has a distinctive whisky-like smokey and oaky note, but it is rounded with a short finish as you’d expect from a quality rum. So it’s fair to say that Penderyn do a decent job of whisky. So what can they do with rum. Well aside from labelling this “Brown” rum they have went with the tagline “Sips like a whisky parties like a rum”. You can probably hear the groans from here (non sexual groans I must add I don’t want to be proclaimed as the Jim Murray of rum). They also add this little nugget of information “and tastes like no other spirit. It has a distinctive whisky-like smoky and oaky note, but it is rounded with a short finish as you’d expect from a quality rum.” The Merser Double barrel is a blend of rums sourced from Jamaica, Barbados and Dominican Republic. The rums are produced from a combination of pot, single column and multi-column stills. They are aged for up to 12 years before blending and then left to marry for another six months in 250-liter ex-Scotch casks. I’ll be fair to Penderyn Disillery though they are producing this rum for The Siddiqui Rums Corporation based in California. Still it would be nice if someone, somewhere did a little bit of research. It is perhaps no wonder this rum has been largely ignored by the rum community. Leaving overtly curious little weirdos like me to review it……